signalapp
Punycode and Umlaut URLs Not Clickable in Signal Desktop and Mobile
Guidelines
- [x] I have searched searched open and closed issues for duplicates
- [x] I am submitting a bug report for existing functionality that does not work as intended
- [x] This isn't a feature request or a discussion topic
Bug description
Description:
After the latest update, URLs containing Punycode (e.g., https://xn--hrdle-jua.de/) and URLs with Umlauts (e.g., https://hördle.de/) are no longer rendered as clickable links in Signal Desktop (Windows, version unknown) and Signal Mobile (Android 7.66.5). Previously, these URLs were clickable and displayed correctly.
Steps to Reproduce:
Open Signal Desktop or Signal Mobile. Send or receive a message containing a URL with Punycode or Umlauts. Attempt to click the URL. Expected Behavior:
URLs with Punycode and Umlauts should be rendered as clickable links in both Signal Desktop and Mobile versions.
Actual Behavior:
The URLs are displayed as plain text and are not clickable, hindering easy access.
Additional Information:
The issue started after the latest update. This affects both desktop and mobile versions. Let me know if there’s anything else you need!
Screenshots
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Device
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Android version
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Signal version
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Link to debug log
No response
@elpatron68 Do you happen to know which version of the Android app was rendering those as clickable links?
Unfortunately, I can't answer that question. I'm pretty sure it was still working at the beginning of this week.
Not sure about desktop, but looking at the commit history I don't think those links would have been clickable on Android since 2023. We'll look into getting it fixed, though.
Not sure about desktop, but looking at the commit history I don't think those links would have been clickable on Android since 2023. We'll look into getting it fixed, though.
Was clickable at least until 11/29/2025 on Android.
We prevent linkification of url's that mix ascii+non-ascii characters. It was meant to be a simple protection against homograph attacks. We could probably make it better and allow common non-homographic characters.
I understand that this is problematic. I was just wondering why the domain I am currently working on (see above) was rendering without any problems until recently. I would of course be very happy if this would work again in the future.